Windows 8.1 update bricked my Bootcamp partition

GreatWaves · 23 Apr 2014 at 00:39

I'm speechless.

After downloading the update and restarting, nothing ever came back on the screen (the screen just flashed white for a few seconds periodically and then blank again), the disk drive sounded busy for about half hour and then about 45 minutes of total silence after which I forced a shutdown.

I tried letting windows 8 boot once. Nothing happened. Screen again just flashed white for a few seconds and then blank.

On next boot I desperately tapped Option key hoping I still get OS X boot back WHICH I DID. THANK YOU.

From within OS X I can see that there is no more Bootcamp drive in Finder and Disk Doctor reports blank data for Bootcamp partition.

I don't know what to say or ask... just speechless. How can an update go THAT badly? WTF. My windows 8 and all files (not many thankfully) are just gone and all because I clicked "Windows 8.1 Upgrade". That's so dumb.

My Mac is a 2.5 Ghz Intel Core i5 mini. Late 2012.

edit: the startup disk selector shows no bootcamp anymore. I can see in disk doctor that I could erase and remount the volume, but in it's current state it cannot be mounted. It looks to me like the allocation of the partition has been "deleted". This is messed up.

Orionaut · 23 Apr 2014 at 01:14

I take it you are referring to the recent (And now infamous across the web) Win 8.1.1 "Upgrade"

Welcome to the, now growing, club!

GreatWaves · 23 Apr 2014 at 01:21

Hi,
so this was no fluke? Mac's are the same so then this must be rampant. I didn't think of searching about upgrading on bootcamp. A lot of PO'd peeps out there then. WTF Microsoft?

Cheers

edit: Don't know if this was 8.1 or 8.1.1. I think it said 8.1 in the Store app. I did the same update on a PC that I have earlier with no issue. But this update apparently just doesn't like Bootcamp... at all. It chews up bootcamp and spits it out.

this_is_gav · 23 Apr 2014 at 08:37

GreatWaves said:
edit: Don't know if this was 8.1 or 8.1.1. I think it said 8.1 in the Store app. I did the same update on a PC that I have earlier with no issue. But this update apparently just doesn't like Bootcamp... at all. It chews up bootcamp and spits it out.

If it's from the Store, then it's the update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 Update 1 is for computers already running 8.1 and only available as an update through Windows Update, not the Store.

This isn't "the infamous 8.1.1" referred to above (which I've not seen any issues with personally).

GreatWaves · 23 Apr 2014 at 15:20

this_is_gav said:
If it's from the Store, then it's the update from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 Update 1 is for computers already running 8.1 and only available as an update through Windows Update, not the Store.

This isn't "the infamous 8.1.1" referred to above (which I've not seen any issues with personally).

Oh ok. So I'll just clarify to anyone reading who has Windows 8 on Bootcamp, before doing the update from 8.0 to 8.1 (from within the Store app) definitely back up everything.

I guess I'll be looking at ways to recover files from my bootcamp partition (like maybe using a live linux flash drive), because OS X just sees the bootcamp partition as being "unallocated". The OS X disk utility offers no repair option for it.

Cheers